Some doctors are a PITA!

[Faery_Light]

I'm never upset by anyone having different views, I like to hear other points of views on things.
The fact that we all have our own opinions and way of thinking is what gives spice to life, makes it interesting.

 

[Hornet3d]

I'm never upset by anyone having different views, I like to hear other points of views on things.
The fact that we all have our own opinions and way of thinking is what gives spice to life, makes it interesting.

I agree, but I am also aware that I have strong views on the abuse of both drinking and drugs and particularly if they then slip into the seat of a car. Despite that I do not want to upset anyone and I am not the sort to criticise a complete generation and I am in the position to be able to upset three different generations, if not four.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I went back to college for art when I was 26. It seemed I was the only one who wasn't smoking pot. But, it just wasn't something that had ever appealed to me. Truth is ... when I was in my early teens, I realized (rightly or wrongly), that I was likely one of those who would easily become addicted. Consequently, I had no interest in taking drugs, drinking, or even smoking.

As for smoking, I grew up in a small house that was about 850 square feet, which was heated by an oil furnace in the middle of the house. My three brothers shared the main bedroom, I had the second, and my parent's bedroom had at one time been a back porch, which had been enclosed to make a utility room. Being the width of my bedroom and the bathroom, it was as big as the main bedroom, and still had the window between it and the bathroom ... which was always rather strange. Both parents were heavy smokers, until my mom quit smoking. Though, I can't remember exactly when that was ... whether I was still in grade school or was in junior high. But just one heavy smoker is enough to make a small house without central heating unbearable.

It was absolutely disgusting. Being a reader, and one who rather likes privacy and quiet ... which isn't exactly easy to find when you have three younger, active, brothers, I'd often read in my bedroom. In the summer, I could shut my door and have some peace and quiet. But in the winter? If I shut the door, I froze. If I left it open, I could be warm, but I was breathing foul air. So there was no freaking way I was ever going to smoke.

My parents didn't drink, except when they played cards with friends or we got together with family for holidays. Even then, it was only my dad and uncles who drank beer, and no one drank all that much on card nights. A bottle of booze would last months ... if not years. I wouldn't be at all surprised that the bottle of peppermint schnapps was still in the cupboard when my parents finally bought a house and moved when my youngest brother was in high school. (He was six years younger than the next oldest brother).

So ... being booze wasn't really a part of my childhood, and I never saw a woman drink beer until I had been an adult for ages, I just never had an interest in drinking. Of course, I did the obligatory going out for drinks on my 21st birthday. One of my older female friends from church took me out She also loaned me her car when I had to take my test for my driver's license ... for that matter, I ended up practicing driving with her car. Our Chevy Nova was a cranky shift stick, and I almost gave up ever learning to drive after being stuck in a busy intersection with my dad. I killed the engine every single freaking time I tried to take my turn through the intersection. Even though I'd gone through Driver's Ed, they didn't exactly prepare us for driving a massively cantankerous car with a flaky clutch. I angered SO many drivers that day, and not a single one of them was hesitant about laying on their horn to express their anger. My dad and I finally switched places, and he drove us home. He also wasn't the most patient man either. So not only did I have other drivers yelling at me, so was he!

Oh jeez. I didn't intend on such a long trip through past memories!

So, getting back to my original thought. While I was in college, I hung out with a lot of people who were always high ... and thought they were creating brilliant works of art. Which ... were rather mediocre. I've always far preferred to keep my head on straight ... and to have at least one toe somewhat touching reality. Even if I far prefer living in a fantasy world

Or a cave with an ocean view, running water, heat, and a functional and well equipped bathroom.

 

[Carrie58]

Faery_Light I just read your thread and while I'm not a doctor I might have an idea for your acid reflux anyway and it will sound silly but it works .......Ginger Ale at least one 12 oz glass a day ,it will take about a week for it to start helping but it really does help with no side effects other than the occasional burp .......and it can't hurt to try. The person that told me about it had used it for like ten years and had quit their acid reflux meds ,and I started using the Ginger Ale before getting meds ,a couple of my friends I've told about this have tried it and gone off their meds.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Oh yeah. My ex used to drink Johnnie Walker in the early years of our marriage. Not one or two drinks on occasion. No, he'd buy a bottle and drink the whole thing over the weekend ... every weekend. And got nasty mean every time. I finally realized what was happening, and pointed that out to him. So he switched to beer. At least he didn't get mean drinking beer. But his drinking always annoyed me. When you're having to pinch pennies to be able to afford to pay your bills and buy groceries, you don't spend money on alcohol! Every single weekend. That and cigarettes. Though, he quit smoking twice. The first time when our son was born, though that was only for a year or so. The second time when Jason was a few years older.

Years later, he had a snit fit when I filed to have my name changed back to my birth name. We'd discussed it periodically after we got married, since I'd never really wanted to give up my birth name. If we'd gotten married a few years later when it was far more common for women to keep their birth names, I'd have done so. But it wasn't yet all that common when we got married in 74. Then when I was in college four years later, that was one of the things you could do through student legal services. So, before I made the appointment, I discussed it with him again ... and he had no objections. Until I came home and told him I'd filed the paperwork.

His objection? I'd spent $20 we "couldn't afford" without discussing the cost with him. This when he was spending $20 easily every weekend on beer.

Just one of many reasons, I'd rather never get married again. Even though ... I'm supposedly engaged

I've seen how mixing drugs and alcohol can affect people.
People who were the meanest in nature were the whiskey drinkers, it just makes them meaner.

 

[Faery_Light]

Satira, I understand you completely.
My dad was a two pack a day smoker all his life, Camel cigarettes was his brand.
He ended up wit emphysema and lung cancer.
Although it was a Cardiac infarction that he died from.
I guess I was addicted to them before I actually started smoking due to the second hand smoke.
Most times growing up we lived in three room apartments, once it was a one room log cabin.
That log cabin, btw, is still standing and is preserved as a landmark here in Missouri.
Cant's remember if it was Fredrick Town or near Steelville though...lol.

I finally got my head on straight in 1986 and stopped smoking cold turkey.
Having double pneumonia, two kids and a mother with COPD to think about made it urgent for me to quit.
I've never been sorry that I stopped and have not smoked since.

 

[Faery_Light]

Faery_Light I just read your thread and while I'm not a doctor I might have an idea for your acid reflux anyway and it will sound silly but it works .......Ginger Ale at least one 12 oz glass a day ,it will take about a week for it to start helping but it really does help with no side effects other than the occasional burp .......and it can't hurt to try. The person that told me about it had used it for like ten years and had quit their acid reflux meds ,and I started using the Ginger Ale before getting meds ,a couple of my friends I've told about this have tried it and gone off their meds.

I would try it but any carbonated drink makes my stomach hurt, like hot knives slicing me...ewww.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Can you tolerate carbonated drinks if you've stirred or shaken them to remove the carbonation. For our office luncheons, they usually provide water or pepsi or coke. Sometimes, I just don't feel like water. But since I don't like the fizzies, I stir my drink to get rid of the carbonation.

 

[Carrie58]

Then I would suggest either let the soda go flat or Ginger Tea instead .. sipping rather then drinking or chugging makes a difference too

 

[Carrie58]

Here I found this https://www.amazon.com/Triple-Leaf-...29178882&sr=8-7&keywords=ginger+tea+bags&th=1

 

[HaiGan]

I'm not normally one to advocate violence, but some doctors need to be stuffed into a piñata and beaten. It's almost as if, when someone has a condition they cannot provide a straightforward treatment for, they assume this is a deliberate attempt by the patient to make them seem incompetent. It's also, of course, impossible to have symptoms that don't match those in the textbooks, so those must either be deliberately made up or delusions. Grr!

There are some good doctors, and many many more doctors who would be good if they were way less underworked and had the time and the pay to update their training the way they would like to, and then there are the doctors who make people dread having to visit the doctor for another round of trying to be taken seriously.

I hope your usual doctor can refer you on to someone who knows what he or she is doing and also treats patients with respect.

Oh, and if you can find one, my other half finds acupuncture to be very helpful. I've never tried it, and have generally been skeptical, but the other half tells me the one he goes to has both full Western medical qualifications and Chinese ones and can explain using the terms and medical philosophy from either what the acupuncture is doing. Plus, it seems to help.

 

[Hornet3d]

I'm not normally one to advocate violence, but some doctors need to be stuffed into a piñata and beaten. It's almost as if, when someone has a condition they cannot provide a straightforward treatment for, they assume this is a deliberate attempt by the patient to make them seem incompetent. It's also, of course, impossible to have symptoms that don't match those in the textbooks, so those must either be deliberately made up or delusions. Grr!

There are some good doctors, and many many more doctors who would be good if they were way less underworked and had the time and the pay to update their training the way they would like to, and then there are the doctors who make people dread having to visit the doctor for another round of trying to be taken seriously.

I hope your usual doctor can refer you on to someone who knows what he or she is doing and also treats patients with respect.

Oh, and if you can find one, my other half finds acupuncture to be very helpful. I've never tried it, and have generally been skeptical, but the other half tells me the one he goes to has both full Western medical qualifications and Chinese ones and can explain using the terms and medical philosophy from either what the acupuncture is doing. Plus, it seems to help.

A year or so ago I went to see a doctor at my local surgery and after I explained my reason for my being there she asked what my expectations I had for the visit. I was surprised as I had visited her a number of times over the the last few years, mainly with diabetes and related problems and she was a great doctor who really knew her stuff. Bewildered I replied that I expected her to tell me what was wrong and advise if it needed to be treated and if so how. Seeing my surprise she smiled and said sorry but all the doctors had been told they had to ask the question as so many patients had the expectation they would leave with a prescription for some tablets of some sort and the thought was they should manage that expectation. I told her she was the one that had spent years at university to become a doctor and therefore I thought it was a silly question but I understood that this was just another box ticking exercise dreamed up by a group of non doctors justifying their existence. I suppose if this trend continues my mechanic will ask me the same question when I take my car in to be repaired when the answer would seem quite obvious. In this case her smile was a delight to see. Sadly box ticking is a trend that continues and so any doctors have left the profession or retired as they feel they are prevented from giving the time or wherewithal to treat patients in a manner they are happy with.

 

[Pendraia]

The THC is removed from it, as THC is what gives the high. I've read up on it in school and apparently nobody ever died from smoking marijuana anyway, but governments just scaremonger us into believing otherwise. Personally I think they should ban alcohol instead because over here most anti-social problems are caused by it. At weekends, the emergency rooms are full of people who are there because of alcohol related incidents or health issues. People smoking marijuana are always in good mood and happy.

Just wanted to comment on this...years back I had a friend whose partner went psycho using marijuana and she was told by the medical staff that there was a 27% chance that it could affect people this way. Prior to this I always thought as drugs go it was fairly innocuous.

He became really paranoid and at one point threatened to kill her. It was only his parents calling the police and attempting to slow him down that stopped it from happening.

Many people see it as being not an issue but there is a percentage of people that it does become an issue for. I was a teen in the 70's and still remember seeing all the fumes rise up from below at concerts that they had at RMIT in Story Hall...personally I think it's wise to be careful with what we put into our bodies and I'm not just referring to grass here.

I googled just to see if I could find evidence to justify what my friend said and found these. I haven't read the last one all the way through but it contains case studies.
Cannabis and psychosis: what is the link and who is at risk?
Cannabis & psychosis
Here's the truth about whether cannabis causes psychosis
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/substance-use-disorder/cannabis-induced-psychosis-review

 

[Faery_Light]

It will affect anyone who is bi-polar, has manic depression or other issues of that type.
But a lot of the problems come in because users buy off the streets and add crap to it to get a bigger high.
Someone I know (or knew as she has since passed away from a lot of illnesses) was given weed to smoke by her uncle and his friends.
They laced it with something like Angel dust or the like and she ended up in a psych ward for two weeks.

I'd never go that route and would make sure my doctor knew what I was using.

So many people worry about addiction but need to consider this too, doctors give prescription drugs for pain that are highly addictive.
Some drugs for depression, like amitriptyline, cause nightmares and/or hallucinations that can be dangerous.
I spent a year or more in hell due to that drug and Ativan as well as three other antidepressants my doctor insisted I needed.

The results were that I wound up going to counseling for over a year, had to wean off Ativan and nearly died from the combo of those drugs.
I've developed seizures and for some reason any antidepressant will now cause them to become worse.
And my allergies flared worse so almost all drugs now give me hives that last two weeks.

Never will I permit a doctor to prescribe antidepressants for me again.
I'm not saying others should shy away if they really need them, but be sure you have a decent doctor prescribing.
Vicodin and Percoset can be addictive, I'm allergic to both so can't use them.

This is why I need some alternative to help me with my issues.
But still not sure what that will be.

 

[Pendraia]

Totally get what you're saying Faery...which was why I said this personally I think it's wise to be careful with what we put into our bodies and I'm not just referring to grass here in my previous post. Even prescribed medications can often have side effects that do us harm for a variety of reasons.

 

[Hornet3d]

It will affect anyone who is bi-polar, has manic depression or other issues of that type.
But a lot of the problems come in because users buy off the streets and add crap to it to get a bigger high.
Someone I know (or knew as she has since passed away from a lot of illnesses) was given weed to smoke by her uncle and his friends.
They laced it with something like Angel dust or the like and she ended up in a psych ward for two weeks.

I'd never go that route and would make sure my doctor knew what I was using.

So many people worry about addiction but need to consider this too, doctors give prescription drugs for pain that are highly addictive.
Some drugs for depression, like amitriptyline, cause nightmares and/or hallucinations that can be dangerous.
I spent a year or more in hell due to that drug and Ativan as well as three other antidepressants my doctor insisted I needed.

The results were that I wound up going to counseling for over a year, had to wean off Ativan and nearly died from the combo of those drugs.
I've developed seizures and for some reason any antidepressant will now cause them to become worse.
And my allergies flared worse so almost all drugs now give me hives that last two weeks.

Never will I permit a doctor to prescribe antidepressants for me again.
I'm not saying others should shy away if they really need them, but be sure you have a decent doctor prescribing.
Vicodin and Percoset can be addictive, I'm allergic to both so can't use them.

This is why I need some alternative to help me with my issues.
But still not sure what that will be.

I have no issues with people taking drugs particularly if they are taken them to control pain or limit the effect of damage from a medical condition. I have concerns when people take drugs just because of the buzz it gives them, after all every drug has side effects but at the end day it is their body. Where I have a real concern is when their taking a drug has a negative effect on others or damages them to a point the rest of us have to pick up the pieces.

 

[carmen indorato]

One thing that finally sank into my aging brain is the meaning of intoxicated. It means POISONED! Plain and simple.
So all those years of smoking cigs and pot and drinking whiskey and cognac and yeah even beer to catch a "BUZZ" I was just poisoning myself. I only one drank until I lost control and not liking it never went that far preferring to cut myself off before it happened and finish the night off with ice water or coffee.
Never could understand either why anyone would keep drinking until they passed out or got sick or yeah even died.
Pot was a good poison for me until I noticed I was getting spasms in my liver. Stopped cold turkey and except for a hit or two here and there never went back.
I mean I was smoking A FREAKING LOT!

Not sure where you re but here in Virginia we have a publication called CHECKBOOK that lists services including medical and dental and rates them. I always try going to the medical facilities that are highest rated (and of course work nice with my insurance provider). But if I try it and don't like the way I am treated I file a complaint to the medical societies and boards in the are including CHECKBOOK and my insurance company and then get another referral from PCP and/or insurance company.
Also, in some way he may not have been too far off the mark. Overweight, blood sugar elevations, cholesterol, High BP and lack of exercise and poor diet do cause problems including pain (which comes from inflammation) which has been found to be the primary cause of many diseases including those mentioned above. It is a vicious cycle that if left unchecked will kill! I hate being called overweight and I take sides with you on that but how wrong is it if you can get past the words? Instead of taking meds it might be a better idea changing your food intake and/or getting into a low impact exercise program like walking or swimming or hey even dancing!
I think we would all be better off........so why am I NOT DOING IT MYSELF! Someone pass me a joint!

 

[Faery_Light]

I have sitting exercise I have to do, my diet is very restricted due to the hight cholesterol and pre-diabetes thing.
But I am not allowed to do a lot of walking anymore due to being a high fall risk and bone loss.
I used to love dancing but can't do that now (sob) and never could swim, not for lack of trying though.

The doctor told me that my body is making the cholesterol and that is why we are having a hard time controlling it.
My weight went up to 180 when my first doctor down here put me on Prednisone and some other meds.
He retired and the next one weaned me off Prednisone because I started having mini strokes.
Since being off them my weight has dropped to 157 but it may take a year more for it to go down a little more.
It takes one day for every day you take prednisone to get it out of your system after weaning off.
I was on it for over three years or more.

I do my exercise every day at least twice a day, not going to slack off on that.
My daughter does the shopping so she makes sure I stick to my diet...lol.
But with COPD, RA, Fibromyalgia and Osteoporosis and add Meneire's Disease to that and it gets nasty.
In addition there is a very small hole in my heart as well.

Usually I don't let it get me too down but lately there is pain everywhere every day and my mood suffers a lot.
My art work and my family helps a lot to keep me from just throwing in the towel.

I kicked tobacco in 1986 and never regretted it and never will regret it.
Cigarettes contain carbon monoxide in addition to other crap the makers now add.
So yes, they do poison you.

I do wish my youngest brother would kick the habit too but he is in denial, has COPD but refuses to admit it.
He is the same way about the mini strokes he has been having, denies that it's true even thought the doctor has said he has them.
Won't stay on his heart healthy diet even though he went through a major heat attack and quad by-pass operation.

I will not do that to my daughter and my grandkids, it is just wrong!
Denying does not help or cause it to be not so.

Sorry for the long post, I sometime ramble now...lol.